Final Project - Impressionism on Child Labour

Canvas Size 420 mm (height) x 549 mm (width)

image - 300 pixels/inch

Adobe Photoshop CS6

The Art illustration is based on a class project which themed on Child Labour.

This is the Original Photo sketched using pencil and colour filled in using crayons 

Revolution of the Arts

Technology has advanced so far into the future, where canvas, brushers and paint are laughed at. The SketchBook Pro is a professional paint and drawing application used on a tablet or iPad to assist artist with their inspiration on-the-go. It helps to unleash the creativity from within for an occasional doodler or a professional illustrator. The application is both friendly to the finger or a stylus. It is almost as powerful enough to replace Adobe Photoshop.

The National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur

Located at the in a beautiful location of Lake Titiwangsa, The National Art Gallery is a home to many art peace exhibition by local artist. The art gallery is established in the 1958, by Tunku Abdul Rahman(first Prime Minister of Malaysia), it is the foundation of the Ministry of Culture, Arts & Tourism of Malaysia. Today, it carries the name as National Visual Arts Gallery.

During my visit there, i was particularly moved by one art piece that illustrated todays world. Details of the art piece is below (there is no visual assistance because i was not permitted to snap a photo)

TOWER OF SHAME
Iiham Fadly Mohd Shaimy
2010-2011
Acrylic, Charcoal, collage on paper.
137 X 90 cm
BSLN 2011.044

The Tower of Shame has illustrated todays modern society with all of its shame based on the Malaysian culture. it portrait the greed for power and money, the act of humans against social norms(gay, pregnant woman before marriage, and also homicides).

Central Market, Kuala Lumpur

                                

The Central Market or also known as Pasar Budaya @Jalan Tun Tan Cheng lock, Kuala Lumpur is a few minutes walk from Petaling Street; founded in the late 19th century, when Malaysia was called Malaya, by the British and it was recognised as an Heritage Site by the Malaysian Heritage Society in 1986, it represents the culture and heritage of Malaysia. 

Central Market has many stalls, each holds a unique feature of each race in malaysia; Lorong Melayu, Lorong India and Lorong Cina. This is planned in such a way so that people who pays a visit to that place can see the obvious differences in these three cultures. 

This unique multi-cultural building holds many art works, from clothing, accessory, jewellery, furniture, art sculptures and many others. To add, it also hold variety of local food and also western food to cater the westerners who are not yet comfortable with asian food. 

COLOUR

RED is a colour of danger, sacrifice, passion, fire, beauty, blood and anger. As for me red is associated with passion, power, possession, protection, and seduction. The first thing that comes to my mind when i think of red is fire. The element from earth; fire is also famous in the Greek Mythology, Prometheus the creator of mankind. Prometheus thought men maths, science, navigation and also medicine. RED is also the colour of luck according to chinese believes. Todays world see red as the colour of sex and lust, it psychologically help the increase in hormones which helps in making love. 

The Young Queen Elizbeth I (around 1563) loved the colour red, before she adopted the image/title "Virgin Queen". To her it symbolises power and fear.

Red is the colour celebrated on Christmas and Valentines Day.

Suria KLCC - PETRONAS Art Gallery

    

Suria KLCC mall holds many high-end fashion labels and it also has an outstanding outdoor park, but the best part about it, is that it has an art gallery. The Petronas Gallery is the place for those are lovers where they could indulge in the moment of silence and serenity. With soft background music, spotlight and comfortable atmosphere to sink into the art work that has been published for auction or purchase. The GALERI PETRONAS is a non-profit visual arts gallery established in 1993 to promote the art works designed/created by Malaysian artist. 

   Most of the artworks are usually published by freelance artists or also from the personal collection of Petronas Art Gallery. The visit to the gallery was a rather interesting one because, this time it was all purely from the collection of Petronas Holdings. Most of the art that were displayed had reflected on the Malaysian history in dept. as to my interest there were nothing that really caught my attention. I found the children artwork was so much more interesting compared to the ‘talented’ artist. 

The artwork by Children

   Fortunately, ONE artist did catch my attention. The essence of his artwork that grabbed my attention was that he had taken old photos (black & white) from the National Museum Malaysia and put himself in them, as if he was apart of the photos. His action and positions in those shots were remarkable. Through that collection of black and white photos, he portrayed himself with a little color yet with the contrast of the 1939 feel! 

Child Labour in India

   India is well knows for its abusive use of child labour. The children in India engage in day-to-day economic activity, which are threatening to their mental and physical wellbeing. Child labour usually occurs in an undeveloped country, where the law does not shelter children. Politically, India is unstable, as the politicians are largely corrupted and this causes intellectual growth retardation among citizens. This social stigma cause the occurrence of child labour and it is not taken as a serious issue among the elite and the ruling party. Poverty is another factor that feeds the growth of child labour, because the country will lack of proper schools, citizens health funding, death due to starvation, lack of water, and the main victims are the low cast communities who are often discriminated.

   Child labour in India can be divided into many categories, the first one would be against their will, which is being kidnapped and sent away far from home to work in factories. Another category, is where their[children] mentally or physically unstable parents or guardian force them to work and bring some ‘bread’ back home, if not they[children] would be physically abused. In some family, the parent would be terminally ill, this situation forces the child to work in order to support his/her parent medical bill or even to sustain other siblings, because the corrupted government does not support them. Bad unemployment rate is another factor that forces children to work, it is so much cheaper to employ a child compared to an adult. Plus, standstill of a countries economy creates an environment where a school is a luxury only catered fro the rich and influential.

   Child labour is on the rising bar in India, the government is strict about children under 14-years-old working. Only those aged between 14 to 18 years can work, but NEVER in hazardous industries. This rule falls under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, which allows 14-years of age eligible to be working. But not in hazardous industries such as the tobacco, stone crushing, mining, cement and chemical industries which can cause harm to their mental and psychical wellbeing.

   Child labour is on the raise, the Indian government is set to debar the employment of child labour. In their [Indian government] policies, a child between the age of 14 to 18 can work but NEVER in hazardous industries. This is the Child Labour of Prohibition and Regulation Act, 1986 that allows this sort of privilege for poor families who has no choice. The type of industries that are considered hazardous are the tobacco, stone crushing, catering, mining, cement and food packaging factories.

   The Indian Labour ministry is trying their hardest to be in tune with the international Labors organization (ILO). ILOs’ only allows children above 14-years of age to be employed. A Child has his/her rights to education, which is compulsory from the age of 6 to 14 years. Those of 14-years and above has to abide to the international laws that has been set to preserve human rights and prevent the abuse of human by higher hierarchy of authority.

   “Once the changes are enacted employing any children below the age of 14 will be a criminal offence,” a senior government functionary said, adding that this was done to ensure the complete rights for children globally around the age of 6 – 14-years-old. Education is every humans basic necessity for survival and it cannot/shall not be taken away from them. As of a survey done in 2001, about 1.29 crores of children were victims of child labour. That’s was the last update, the 2011 survey is yet to be realized.   

The employment of child labour can result in jail term or a fine up too rs. 20,000 and some cases both! 

stone mine

Kailash Satyarthi - Child Labour Activist [YouTube]